


Head-on Confrontations

by BekkaChaos



Series: Gallavich Drabbles [122]
Category: Shameless (US)
Genre: Angst, Bipolar Disorder, Bipolar Ian, Conflict, Gallavich, Gen, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-12-02
Updated: 2014-12-02
Packaged: 2018-02-27 20:45:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2706128
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BekkaChaos/pseuds/BekkaChaos
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>
  <i><b>based on a prompt:</b> could you possibly write a fic of the Gallagher like apologising to Ian about not being there for him in past months?</i>
</p>
            </blockquote>





	Head-on Confrontations

**Author's Note:**

> _Okay, so I hope this was okay, and I tried to represent Ian's bipolar as best I could, using[this post](http://themilkoviches.tumblr.com/post/102700210419/so-since-being-more-involved-in-the-shameless) as a reference. Thanks for reading guys._

It took a long time to get Ian back on his feet.

It wasn't just because they had to get him up and out of bed, or convince him that he needed to see a doctor - something Mickey really didn't want to do at first. It was because finding the right medication took time, settling into a new rhythm took time, and more importantly, it took a long time for Ian to admit that he may have actually been bipolar.

That was a struggle in itself, but Mickey never left, never stopped being there to support him. He was always there, and with help from Mandy and Debbie, and even Carl when he could manage it, they managed to get Ian through to a stable patch.

None of them knew how long it would last, or whether it would be like the last kind of medication they tried and just be completely useless, but Ian was starting to act a lot like he used to.

Of course he had his up and down moments, but now they were easier to handle.

They all knew the medicine wasn't a cure, that this wasn't something that could be fixed, but the worst thing would have been for them to act like he was never going to be the same anymore, that the illness ruined him, because it didn't.

It was just another part of his life and he was always going to be Ian, whether he was manic, depressed or stable. He hadn't changed and he wasn't gone, and Mickey absolutely  _hated_ it when anyone acted like that was the case.

He saw it sometimes in Lip and Fiona, and while most of the time he kept his mouth shut for Ian's sake, one day it hit him and he just couldn't keep it in.

He was at the Gallagher's place with Ian, who was still sleeping when he woke up to go downstairs. As he descended the stairs he heard the two of them talking in the kitchen.

"... I mean sometimes it just feels like we're just waiting for the ball to drop," came Lip's voice.

"I know," Fiona said. "It's like I see him and I can't help thinking that we're going to get up one day and he's going to turn into Monica."

"Well he already left once," Lip said. "Not much else we can do for him if he decides to go."

Mickey made sure his last few steps were loud, making distinct thumping sounds as he walked into the kitchen.

Fiona and Lip just looked over at him, their conversation going quiet. Mickey scoffed a little, grabbing a coffee mug and walking to the pot.

"No please, don't stop on my account," he said coldly.

"Excuse me?" Lip asked.

"No, just go on talkin' about him like he's a fuckin' time bomb," he said.

"Hey, we're just going on experience here, so maybe just stay out of conversations you aren't in," Lip snapped back.

Mickey put the mug down on the bench loudly and turned to look at him.

"How about you act like you give a shit?" he said.

"I'm sorry, _you're_ giving  _me_ that speech?" Lip asked. "You wanna talk about not giving a shit?"

"Lip," Fiona said warningly.

"Yeah, maybe I do," Mickey said. "You saw him a few months ago, look at where he fuckin' is now, and all you can think about is whether he's gonna run?"

"He's bipolar, we've seen what that does-" Lip started but Mickey cut him off.

"What? Because all people who got it are exactly the fuckin' same, huh?"

"You know that's not what I fucking said," Lip said, both of their voices raised.

"He's not your fucking mother!" Mickey yelled.

"No shit he's not, if he was he'd already be half-way across the state doing god knows what with his fucking time!"

"Ain't that exactly what you're waitin' on? Him to up and fucking leave?"

"You think I'm not worried he'll do that? He's done it once I-"

"And where the fuck were you?!" Mickey yelled again.

Debbie and Carl had appeared on the stairs now, both looking tired as they watch the two of them scream at one another. Fiona walked over to them and tried to send them back upstairs but they weren't moving.

"Fuck you," Lip said. "Who the fuck do you think went looking for him in the first place?"

"After how long of him bein' gone? And then what, you fuckin' left him there?" Mickey said. "Who was it that went and picked his coked out ass up out of the fuckin' snow and brought him back here? Don't tell me you didn't notice him actin' different when he got back either."

"Oh so what, you noticed and said nothing? You think that makes you a big fucking hero?"

"Lip!" Fiona said, walking over to him and putting her hand on his arm but he just shrugged it off.

"I'm not the fuckin' expert you say you are about this," Mickey said. "If you know so much why the fuck didn't you see it then, huh?"

Ian has walked in through the living room, standing at the entrance and shaking his head. "Stop," he said quietly.

"I can't do fucking everything," Lip yelled. "You think it's easy going to college and trying to fucking provide for a family while Fiona was in  _prison_ and Liam was in  _the hospital_? Don't come in here and act like you know fucking everything."

"You think I had it fuckin' easy?"

"I'm not the one who got myself into this situation though, am I?" Lip said and the two looked about ready to lunge at one another.

"Stop!" Ian yelled.

"Lip, that's enough!" Fiona said.

She grabbed him by the arm and pulled him back while Ian rushed in to put his arm across Mickey's stomach and pull him back against the bench.

"Stop," Ian said again, this time to Mickey and quietly.

Mickey just looked at him and sighed, one hand reaching out to hold against Ian's waist as he cooled down.

Fiona turned to look at the two of them, her eyes a little glassy and she folded her arms.

"This has been hard for everyone, okay?" she said. "And not just because of Ian's diagnosis. I blame myself for almost everything anyway, but you guys have to stop this bullshit."

Lip folded his arms and shook his head,not looking up at any of them. Ian's thumb gently stroked Mickey's hip as he tried to calm him down and Mickey just bit his lip to keep his mouth closed.

"Ian," she said softly, swallowing hard and trying not to tear up more than she already was. "We should have been there for you," she said. "Before any of this shit, when you left we should have... I know how many times Debbie told me we should have been looking for you, and I just brushed it off. I wanted to give you space, I know what happened when I tried to push Lip into doing something he didn't want to," she looked over at him, two tears breaking rank and slipping down her cheeks. "I gave you an ultimatum and it, you left. I didn't want to make that same mistake again."

Ian's eyes had clouded up too, his grip a little tighter on Mickey and now it was him who was giving the reassurance, rubbing gentle circles against his back with his fingers.

"And when I look back I see all the signs were there, but I was too caught up in my own shit to realise what might have been going on with you," she said. "Then when we saw you and I... I was scared. I was scared that you were going to be another Monica and I couldn't..."

A tear dropped down Ian's cheek now, and Debbie and Carl had walked over to Lip.

"I couldn't get past that in my head and I'm so sorry. I know how shitty it is, I know you're not like her, that you must be feeling like that already without having to hear me say it."

Ian nodded a little, because he wasn't only listening to her words, but what she wasn't saying. She was scared that he would turn into Monica, and that she would turn into Frank. It was only a small jump to think of it that way and he knew that she was scared, they both were.

"It's not your fault Fiona," Ian said. "We all knew someone was going to end up like her."

"Maybe, but she's right, we shouldn't have treated you like you were just going to become her," Lip said with a sigh. "That's not how this stuff works."

Debbie was crying a little and Fiona put her hand on her shoulder, pulling her in for a hug.

"Sorry we weren't there for you man," Lip said. "Hate to say it, but he's right," he said, pointing to Mickey. "I was right there watching the whole thing happen and I didn't even stop to think about it long enough."

"Can we just stop fighting about it? Please?" Ian asked. "No one can change it, and maybe I don't want to, okay? This is just who I am."

"We just want you to be okay," Debbie sobbed, and Ian let go of Mickey to open his arms to her, closing his eyes and squeezing her tight as Carl came over to hug him too.

"I'm not going to be Monica, okay Debs? I promise," he said softly, and Fiona came over to wrap her arms around as many of them as she could.

Lip clapped his hand on Ian's shoulder and rustled Carl's hair before Ian felt a tiny pair of hands on the back of his thigh as Liam poked his head between his legs and Debbie's.

Fiona looked up at Mickey but he just put his hands up, he wasn't really the family hugging kind of guy.

After a moment Ian pulled back and smiled at them. "Guess it's just another typical year for the Gallagher's."

Fiona laughed a little and wiped her eyes, leaning in to kiss him on the cheek.

"You just let us know if you need anything, okay?"

"We'll try not to be such self-absorbed assholes in the future," Lip said, the corner of his mouth turning up in a smile.

"It's okay, maybe that's genetic too," Ian said.

Lip laughed and nodded because hell, maybe it was true.

"You can do one thing for me though," Ian said.

"Sure, what do you need?" Lip asked.

"Apologise to Mickey," he said and Lip and Mickey just exchanged a glance.

"He doesn't need to-" Mickey started.

" _And_ ," he said. "Apologise to Lip. You both said some shit that wasn't true. Don't think I didn't hear that screaming match before."

Mickey and Lip just looked over at one another again before Lip held out his hand.

"Truce?" he said.

Mickey sighed, taking his hand and giving it a shake. "Sure," he mumbled and Ian just let it go, knowing that was going to be as good as it got for the time being.

They stood in silence for a while longer, before Fiona spoke up.

"So, breakfast anyone?"

And so the rest of the morning got off to a slow start, and the argument and following confrontation lingered in all of their minds but it was nothing that they couldn't get through. They were Gallagher's after all, they could get through anything.

After they'd eaten, Mickey had hardly said a word through the whole mean, he and Ian went outside to sit on the porch where they could be alone.

"I didn't mean to yell or anything," Mickey said.

"I know," Ian said, wrapping Mickey up in his arms and letting out a sigh as he closed his eyes.

"Just pisses me off when they say shit like that," he said. "After all we been through..."

"I know Mick, but maybe it all needed to come out like that. Now we can stop looking at me like I'm about to break. I'm not my disorder you know," he said and Mickey pulled back to look at him.

"I know, I never said you were," he said.

"It doesn't make me a different person, I'm still me," he said.

"Hey," Mickey said softly. "I know."

"So let's just move on, okay? Deal with all the other shit that goes on."

"Sure is a lot of it," Mickey groaned.

Ian smiled. "Thank you."

"For what?"

"You know what."

Mickey just leant up to kiss him and Ian wrapped his arms around him tighter, liking things exactly the way they were.

**Author's Note:**

> Please let me know what you think about this. xo


End file.
